Kama Sutra

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Kama Sutra

R

1996

1h 54m

Romance

LGBTQ+

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

41%

Tomatometer

17 Reviews

71%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In 16th-century India, Princess Tara (Sarita Choudhury) is raised alongside her maid Maya (Indira Varma). The two best friends turn into enemies when Tara becomes engaged to King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews). Embittered by Tara's sudden poor treatment of her, Maya sleeps with Raj on his wedding night and is expelled from the palace. With her mastery of sexual technique, Maya continues to entice Raj, who is too distracted by hedonistic pursuits to realize his kingdom is in danger.

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Critics Consensus

Kama Sutra refreshingly approaches sensuality from a female perspective, but audiences will be turned off by this romance's silly plotting.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jan 1, 2000

2/4

The film is lush and voluptuous to regard, but I expected more from Mira Nair, and I was disappointed. She is better than this work.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Apr 5, 2011

C

Mira Nair's film fails as a melodrama as well as erotic fantasy; the sexul material had to be toned down due to censorship.

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Aug 4, 2007

F

"Kama Sutra," while easy to look at, is even easier to laugh at.

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Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

Jan 3, 2005

2/5

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Jan 4, 2004

C-

It all seemed inane.

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Greg Muskewitz

eFilmCritic.com

Dec 30, 2003

3/5

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Athena Y

@LargeMarge316 Oct 5, 2025

I personally found it enchanting. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance and historical fiction. This movie provides an interesting perception of this time period through the characters. I loved seeing the culture of this time period. The love story overall was very nice and the characters I found very intriguing. If you haven't seen it and like a good tragic love story I would give it a shot.

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Steve D

@RT35616104 Sep 18, 2023

Indira is better than the material.

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Aug 25, 2020

Indian sex skills different from Europe

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Jan 30, 2019

Wow, Indians make some good movie. Visually beautiful, intense, good acting, good story. Flows well. Just a good movie about love, jealousy, power, gluttony, competition

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dustin d

@RT12543299 Aug 14, 2017

Kama Sutra is lovely to look at, but I had a hard time getting engaged, even though there is a lot of drama. I liked it best when the characters were being over-the-top evil, but none of them ever became anything more than a cardboard cutout. The movie was melodramatic and filled with laughable, contrived dialogue.

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Fong Kok Hoong F

@RT29722865 Sep 17, 2016

Gloriously lensed and seething with erotic Indian mysticism, it is a fairly affecting tale about the tragic afflictions a young woman's amorous beauty brings upon herself and her kingdom.

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Mira Nair

Director

Indira Varma

Maya

Sarita Choudhury

Tara, the Queen

Ramon Tikaram

Jai Kumar

Naveen Andrews

Raj Singh

Rekha

Rasa Devi, teacher of the Kama Sutra

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Synopsis

In 16th-century India, Princess Tara (Sarita Choudhury) is raised alongside her maid Maya (Indira Varma). The two best friends turn into enemies when Tara becomes engaged to King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews). Embittered by Tara's sudden poor treatment of her, Maya sleeps with Raj on his wedding night and is expelled from the palace. With her mastery of sexual technique, Maya continues to entice Raj, who is too distracted by hedonistic pursuits to realize his kingdom is in danger.

Director: Mira Nair
Producer: Mira Nair, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Screenwriter: Mira Nair, Helena Kriel, Wajida Tabassuh
Production Co: Trimark Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 28, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 1, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.1M
Runtime: 1h 54m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital

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